How to Train your Dragon Hunter
by ihave42cats
Summary: A dragon hunter shoots down and captures a Night Fury during a raid in with the intention to trade it for her own freedom. Ch6 is up! Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1-The Night Fury

Introduction: _This is an alternate reality story cascading from the idea that Hiccup tried to shoot down a Night Fury in the past, but failed. However someone does shoot him down. This story takes place 3 years before the events of the first movie. It tells the story of a different night fury, his captor, and their experiences together._

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Chapter one: The Night Fury

He was a Night Fury. At least that's what people shouted when he dove and fired blasts into their villages. He was a great dragon, quick and undetectable. Unlike his brethren, he never showed his face to the inhabitants of the villages. He considered himself a defensive tactic in the raids, preferring to back up the others while they got in and took what they needed for their queen. He never steals food, he never shows himself, and he never misses. He thought this to himself as he swooped in again firing a sphere of hot blue flame an attack tower. Of course he didn't need to steal food, he really wasn't a part of the clan of dragons that were influenced by the queen. Having not grown up around this particular nest he wasn't influenced or rather controlled by the queen into bringing anything back. Or maybe it was because of his intelligence, he didn't know, and frankly, didn't care that much. He wanted a place in the world, and he would have to find it himself. He had no family, not any more, no friends, no one to call his companion. Sure the other dragons were nice to share the company with, during raids of course, but he couldn't really consider any of them companions. They weren't as intelligent as him, they didn't think like him, they didn't do anything like him. They were animals, and yet, he always felt like he was something else.

The Night Fury had taken out two offensive towers used by the Vikings, when he heard it: the terrible sound of being shot at. Usually the humans ran from him, not shot at him! He was a bit surprised but quickly turned his body in the air in an attempt to avoid the flying bolo. Twisting himself in the air he ducked the trap by just enough to avoid being caught in the snare. With irritation in his eyes he swooped back around, searching for the weapon which almost brought him to the ground. A young human man crippled by fear was lying on the ground next to what looked like a canyon. The Night Fury caught a glimpse of this fear and decided to spare the young man, but not before firing a blast at the cannon, preventing any more repeat attacks. As he bolted back into the air he could hear the shouts of worry from the village, "Hiccup!". The boy who he spared was named Hiccup, the dragon thought. He shook his head. Why should he care what his name is? Why would he spare him? Any other dragon wouldn't have. Of course, he wasn't just any dragon. He could never intentionally kill someone like that. He growled at himself. Why not? Why couldn't he? He is a dragon after all, he longed to fit in, but ultimately, he did not. He didn't -

His thoughts were broken by the sudden sharp sting in the arm of his wing. He let out a surprised roar as he begun to hurl to the ground, unable to stable himself with a damaged wing arm. With a glimpse he saw an arrow had pierced through his dragon scales and robbed him of his ability to fly. Did that boy do that?! He snarled. How could he have spared him. What had he done to himself. What will become of him? He thought this as he plummeted to the ground and finally landed on his back with a painful crunch in a field of rocks. He tried to readjust himself but his head was quickly pinned down with a foot. That boy had come back for him, he figured. He was so stupid not to have killed him. He growled as he felt the human touch his neck, but then he fell limp, and so very very tired. So tired in fact he passed out, leaving himself completely vulnerable to what was next.

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Kelta dropped down onto her stomach, eyes pointed into the sky, searching, stalking, hoping to find that elusive dragon, the Night Fury. She had been to every dragon raid in this stupid Viking village this year, watching for her ultimate prize. She hadn't seen it yet this night, but knew it was coming, it always came. She spent the last year carefully studying how the dragon moved in the air, it's formations, and it's mannerisms. She learned to predict how it would react, so she could accurately shoot it, and capture it, finally. She would be the first dragon trapper to catch a Night Fury. Her master would be so pleased, maybe he'd let her go. No, surely he would give her freedom. That's what she hopped as she watched the other dragons pillage the poor Viking town. Those dragons didn't mean anything to her. She could only capture and bring back one dragon at a time to her master as her boat wasn't big enough for much, and neither did she bring enough ties to keep more than one down. She typically went for the big catch as well. A Night Fury would certainly be a big catch.

Suddenly she heard a wisp in the air followed by a high pitched scream of "Night Fury!". Kelta looked as a charge of blue flame blasted at the village, crashing into one of their offensive towers. Kelta smirked, _it's time,_ she thought. She jumped to her feet, no longer needing to be hidden from both the dragons and the Vikings, as the Night Fury was usually distracting enough for her to move around freely. She bolted to the Cliffside, snatching her bow from her back and readying an arrow. Today was the day, she felt ready, she was going to capture that Night Fury. She stopped at the edge and drew her arrow back, pointed into the sky, ready to release it. _He always fires again,_ she commented internally as she watched the sky in the places she knew he should be. He did, the Night Fury fired a second time, that was her chance to fire and catch him, but she didn't, as something stopped her.

A stupid Viking boy had shot at the dragon with some sort of weird contraption. Kelta huffed in irritation, lowering her bow, her perfect plan blown by some idiot. Of course he missed, she thought, watching as the bolo just barely missed the dragon. He flew out of her sight once again, blending in with the night sky. Her eyes widened and she lowered her bow in exasperation.

"No," she breathed quietly. "NO!" She shouted, not caring who heard her. That dragon was hers, she almost had it this time, she needed to have it this time. She needed to capture it so she could have that chance to be free.

That's when the Night Fury swept down for a third time, this time it was to attack the boy. She watched with curious brow raised. That particular dragon never attacked a person before, she thought. The dragon charged his flame once more and shot it, but not at the boy, instead it was at that contraption. Kelta gasped, of course! He never hurts anyone on purpose, only as a result of the flames. He never aims for people, and this was no exception. Kelta looked into the sky hoping to catch a glimpse of the dragon once more, but it was too late, he had already engulfed himself in the darkness of the sky.

He wasn't getting away that easily, she thought, closing her eyes. She had caught many dragons this way, but she always felt a little odd about using the 'old ways' of her people. She wasn't one of those people anymore. She hadn't been, not since she had become a slave. She stopped her breathing and allowed the sounds of the wind to fill her ears, blocking out all other sound. She sensed the earth as it spoke to her and she was able to sense where the dragon was in the sky. She opened her eyes and looked again, finally knowing without seeing, that this was where she needed to shoot. She prepared her arrow once more and let it fly. She smiled when she heard the dragon howl in pain and fall to the ground.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, happily, slinging her bow across her body and running towards the downed dragon. "I did it, finally!" It had fallen into a rocky section of the island, so she was careful when she approached it. She had to be stealthy enough not to let the dragon know she was approaching. Luckily she had been trained in tracking creatures from a very young age, and was one of the few things she carried with her throughout the years. It's what made her better than most dragon trappers, and possibly what allowed her to become a dragon trapper at all. Oh except for one other thing. When she reached her prize she didn't have time to enjoy it, she had to move quickly, as the dragon was still conscious and could fire at her immediately. She smashed her foot into its jaw, preventing him from firing, and pressed her fingers into his neck, massaging his jaw, initiating a sleep response in the dragon. It fell limp, and she finally relaxed. She could immobilize any dragon she touched, something else she took back from the "old ways," something that made her such a great dragon trapper. She began wrapping a rope around the dragons snout, careful to secure it in such a way that it would not only be unable to escape, but unable to use its flame on her as well. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a small vial of poison in a tiny dragon shaped apothecary glass. Pouring the contents into the sleeping dragons mouth, she then landed a swift kick to the dragons ribcage. The poison moves fast, the Dragon made a sleepy roar and rose to its feet in a groggy state. She yanked the rope towards her causing the Dragon to sleepwalk in the direction she intended.

Now she just had to drag it back to her ship. She sighed, hating this part. Dragons were extremely heavy, and she wasn't very strong. Kelta relied on using stealth and careful study, planning her moves to be in her favor, not brute strength, but she had to get this dragon back to her ship so she could deliver it. She knew the dragon would be passed out for a short while, but she wasn't sure exactly how long, as she had never encountered this exact type before. Lucky for her, her ship wasn't that far out and she figured she could use the loose rocks to help stumble the Dragon forward using its weight against it.

Kelta usually traveled alone, not that it was an advantage, not in this situation. If she had been traveling with others it would have been much quicker to get this dragon aboard her ship. Although it likely wouldn't do her any good, as her catch would undoubtedly be stolen from her. She was a slave first, and a dragon trapper second. Of course, if anyone else was there, she wouldn't even have been allowed to attack the dragon, let alone catch it, so of course she was happy to be allowed to travel alone. Which was fine with her, she didn't like the company anyway. She wasn't like the other dragon trappers, she wasn't like anyone she knew. She didn't even look like them. Her black hair, red skin and deep brown eyes contrasted quite a bit with their blond hair and blue eyes. Still, it would have been nice to have someone to help her get this dragon into her ship.

Finally after a lot of effort, she dragged the dragon close enough to where she could attach the ropes to her ship and bring it in. She didn't bother to adjust any of the ropes, confident she had him restrained enough that he wouldn't escape. Not that it mattered, the dragon couldn't fly away with that arrow in its wing, and she knew it wasn't stupid enough to burn down a ship in the middle of the ocean. While she may not have ever known a night fury, she definitely knows how intelligent they are.

When Kelta finally got the sleeping dragon into the cabin of her ship, she went to light a candle to inspect the dragon's injury. She looked down at her prize and frowned, her eyes widened and she felt pressure in her chest. She had never seen a real night fury before, only sketches and read supposed descriptions, but she never thought it would look like this. She had seen a dragon like this before. This creature was her spirit guide.


	2. Chapter 2- Confliction on a Boat

Ch2 -Confliction on a Boat

"I can't give you to Bludvist, not now," she sighed and placed a foot on the Dragons side, giving her the leverage to pull the arrow out, causing the dragon to cry a muffled screech, and waking it up.

The Night Fury woke to a sharp pain in his wing, he cried but found he was unable to move his jaw to let out much sound. His eyes opened slow letting in the light of his surroundings. He tried to move, but quickly found it was in vain, for he was tied up. He shook his head, as if trying to remember what had happened. He vaguely remembered the attacking of the village, and….something else. A Boy. He remembered, he was shot down by a boy, after sparing his life no less! He opened his eyes, furious, but was surprised when he looked at his captor. A young woman, thin, but not without muscles in her arms, with long black hair adorned with eagle feathers and brown skin with a reddish tint, her body clothed in dragon's hide. He snarled at her, smelling the death coming from her body. How dare she wear the skin of his brethren. The Night Fury glared at his captor, narrowing his eyes, pure fury infused flame filling his chest, unable to release it in his bonds. He wriggled around, continuing to snarl, desperate to break free. Finally his angry glare rose to her eyes, but he felt a wave of sympathy for his captor. She looked sad, and confused, but only for a moment. Her own eyes narrowed into a glare.

"No, I have to! It doesn't matter! My freedom is on the line!" she shouted at the dragon, fully aware he had no idea what she was talking about. "I'm tired of being a slave," she mumbled sadly, rising to her feet, and slowly walking out of the cabin.

The dragon glared at Kelta as she walked back onto the ship. So she was the reason he was in this situation, but why did he feel sympathetic for her? He closed his eyes, hating how empathic he was, especially for a human who wanted him dead. Wait, no, not dead. Something though, something to break his freedom, but something she obviously didn't want to do. She was obviously conflicted, he could tell that, but why? He opened his eyes and felt his nerves flinch, she had come back. He narrowed his eyes again, glaring at her with a low growl, but stopped when he saw her eyes seemed red from tears. He could feel her vulnerability, he could feel she wasn't going to hurt him, not anymore. She carried a large leather strap with multiple chains and buckles attached to it. The dragon snarled through his nose as she approached him, but was unable to prevent her from attaching the collar to him. She attached the ends of the chains to metal hooks in the floor. He wasn't going anywhere, not any time soon.

Kelta stared at the dragon, but with a dead stare. She was deep in thought. This dragon had visited her in so many exhaustion causing visions. Drago Bludvist rarely gave his slaves enough water, let alone food, to complete the tasks he lead them on, thus causing more of them to die then to live, not that he cared. He had so much power he could always get more. Her people would often rely on Vision Quests to lead them into adulthood, but she had experienced so many as a slave as a result of Drago's harsh treatment, she had become accustomed to seeing this dragon, as it was always present. In fact this dragon had been the influence to give her the strength to try to become a dragon trapper. She couldn't really understand why. She had no one to interpret her visions, other than herself. She thought for a moment, maybe it was to lead her to _this_ dragon?

A familiar dragonic squawk was heard amongst the rumbling waves of the ocean, Kelta looked in its direction with joy on her face. "Lallo!" She exclaimed, forgetting about the dragon she captured, happy to see the little Terrible Terror flying over to her. She held out her arms as the small green dragon flew into them, cooing with joy at seeing it's friend. "I missed you, Lallo! Are you hungry boy?" She scratched at the dragon's neck gently, sitting down on her cot across from the Night Fury.

The Night Fury was astonished, watching this strong woman suddenly drop her guard with this little dragon. So she was capable of compassion after all? Why couldn't she show some of that to him? He huffed jealously as he watched her scratch the neck of the little green dragon.

"I finally caught him! I'll send you out to give word to the master when the sun rises," she motioned towards the restrained Night Fury, "Let's have some dried fish tonight to celebrate!"

Lallo looked at the Night Fury, almost with a superior gaze. He wasn't tied up, the Night Fury was, that made him better. Lallo nudged his nose into Kelta's chest as if to imply he wanted her to hold him.

Kelta gave the little dragon a brief squeeze before finally pushing him gently onto the cot and reaching under it to pull out a small wooden box full of dried fish. She pulled a filet out of the box and gave it to Lallo to eat. She then took a piece of fish for herself and begun to nibble at it all the while looking directly at the Night Fury, making eye contact, as if to assert dominance. She sighed. She still felt badly about the situation this dragon was in. Finally her guilt overcame her and she got down on her knees again, crawling back to the Night Fury and sitting down with her legs crossed and the box of fish in her lap. Lallo flew over to perch on her leg greedily taking another piece of fish for himself.

The Night Fury growled at the little dragon, wriggling in his bounds. He had enough of this little dragon, antagonizing him. If he were free he would snap the dragon's neck. Okay, maybe not, but he was hungry, and he was tired of watching this dragon tease him.

Kelta realized how cruel her little dragon friend was acting and shooed at him with her hand, scolding him. "Lallo! Don't antagonize him, he's in a bad enough situation as it is." She let out a sigh and pushed the box of dried fish left towards the large black dragon. There weren't many fish filets left, but plenty of crumbs. She looked back up at the dragon, his green eyes narrowing with distrust. She would have to cut his mouth free if she wanted to give him the opportunity to eat. She reached into her boot and drew out a small dagger. She looked at it for a moment as if trying to decide whether or not to use it. She looked back up at the dragon, giving him a stern glare. "I'm giving you my trust. Don't forget, we are on a wooden boat and you can't fly."

His wing burned painfully with her reminder. He couldn't fly. He'd also probably drown or be burned to death being chained up as he was. He nodded as if to show he understood, he wouldn't breathe fire at her. She snapped the rope around constricting his jaw. He glares at her for a moment, thinking about what she said. She trusted him enough to let him free his jaw, earning her a little gratitude, but that didn't make him any less angry. He was still restrained, but not enough that he couldn't move closer to her, he tested the limits of the chains, and let out a fierce roar, releasing as much pent up anger as he could over the whole incident.

The fierce roar frightened the little dragon so badly it flew right into the ceiling of the cabin before flying skittishly and hiding in her bed. Kelta ignored this, continuing to make eye contact with the stubborn, hostile, black dragon. She wasn't affected by him, not by much; in fact she just kind of stared at him with not much emotion. Finally she broke her eye contact and pushed the box of fish closer with her foot. "Just eat the fish, Night Fury," she said, getting up to check on the little scared dragon.

The Night Fury snorted at her as she walked away. He didn't much care for her trying to assert dominance over him. He was stubborn, he wouldn't be brought down. Still, he was hungry, but would he admit defeat to her? He stubbornly snuffed the dried fish, laying his head on the floor, and wrapping his tail around him with the fins blocking his face, as if to deny the peace offering she gave him.

Once reunited with her pet dragon, Kelta turned to check on the Night Fury to see why she didn't hear any eating noises. Upon seeing that he hadn't touched any of the food she simply shrugged, more for Lallo she thought as she attempted to let the little dragon finish eating the food. Lallo was still skittish and shook violently as she tried to place him near the box of fish. "Lallo? It's fine, he won't hurt you," Kelta spoke quietly in a reassuring tone. She didn't know that the Night Fury wouldn't hurt the little dragon, but she didn't figure he had all that much extra strength to try either, especially if he refused to eat. The little dragon scrambled up her front and perched on her shoulder. The Night Fury opened an eye and peeked through the fin of his tail with a curious gaze before groaning a bit and whacking his tail at the box of fish, pushing it towards Kelta's feet. Kelta frowned and picked it up. "Fine," she breathed, defeated. She placed the box back under the cot, and sat down.

The sun was beginning to rise. Kelta usually spent the early mornings sleeping, the afternoons wildling arrows and practicing her archery, and the nights hunting. Today probably wouldn't be much different. She kicked her feet under the wool blanket and wrapped it around herself as she curled up. The Terrible Terror nestled itself in the crevasse in her side, purring itself to sleep. She faced the Night Fury, and stared at him with tired eyes. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to just give him to Bludvist. Would it even make a difference? She was taking a gamble that this would even give her the opportunity to be free in the first place. As a slave she had no right to this dragon, but she thought that maybe at this point she would have proved herself useful, and loyal enough for him to possibly give her the chance at her own freedom. She could procure more dragons this way! Still, she felt deeply remorseful for this Night Fury. If she was in any other situation she probably would have liked to be-friend it, as she did Lallo. She never really considered herself much of a Dragon Hunter, but she did what she needed to, to survive. Sure she was good at it, but she didn't truly believe in treating these majestic creatures like this. She loved Lallo, she could have loved the Night Fury too. She always wanted a larger more intelligent dragon to call her friend, why not this one? He looked exactly like her Spirit Guide. Maybe he's somewhat connected? No, it doesn't matter now, it would never trust her now. Or would it? If you show compassion to an animal it can be very forgiving. Maybe that's all she needed to do? Show compassion. Kelta shook her head. No, she couldn't make up her mind. She had never been this conflicted before, it was never a question of 'should I give this dragon to Bludvist?' No it was always, 'is this dragon good enough for Bludvist that he'll allow me to continue trapping dragons like this?' She had freed many dragons in her line of work, but she had turned just as many over to Bludvist. She had been stalking this one for almost a year and she finally had it. But could she give it up? She sighed and shut her eyes. She still had time to make a decision. The morning would pass, the afternoon would come and she would send her little dragon out with an update. Either she'll be on her way with a Night Fury or she'll have to send bad news, that the dragon was killed in the raid. She was starting to prefer the latter. Hopefully he would buy it.


	3. Chapter 3-Freedom

Ch 3 Freedom

Brightness from the sun settled on the Night Fury's eyes. He groaned in discomfort, shifting his sleeping posture, and gazing into the now dimly lit cabin. He hadn't gotten much sleep at this point, it was very cold on this rickety boat, much colder than the volcanic nest he spent so many other sleeps. He peeked up at Kelta, a twinge of jealousy hit him, seeing how warm the little dragon looked curled up in her bed. He curiously continued to glance around the cabin of the boat, finally setting his eyes on the weapon that brought him down. Dragon bones! The bow he was shot with sat on a hook embedded into the wall, it was constructed from the bones of dead dragons and held together with what looked like thin slivers of dragon skin. His eyes contracted with fear, what is with this woman? Why did she keep so many decapitated dragon parts with her? Maybe it was irony, to kill a dragon with the pieces of a dragon. He huffed at himself, what a cold sense of humor she must have, his eyes narrowing and glaring at her. He glanced around again, still curious to see what else she had, as if he wanted to make himself angrier with what he saw. Of course anger is the opposite of what he felt when he set his eyes on what was hanging above her head. As content began to warm is body he looked at the black leather bound hoop with its dangling black and white feathers and an intricate web of thread embedded with small black gemstone carvings of dragons. Not just any dragons, Night Furys! He recognized the shape almost immediately, not just the stones, he recognized the entire thing. It was something he could remember from when he was younger, while everything else about his past was a blur, he for some reason always remembered that weird ornament. He looked back at Kelta, his feeling of content beginning to fade, glaring at her again. Why would she have this? Did she steal it? He wanted so badly to burn her warm blanket, but knew she wouldn't understand and probably hurt him. At this point he was so angry and curious about her he wished he could speak to her; find out why she had that ornament, where she got it, and what she was doing keeping it displayed. Too bad she can't speak Night Fury. He huffed again, closing his eyes, starting to feel sleepy again. Maybe now he could get a little sleep, but he still wished he wasn't so cold. Normally he would warm the ground or a rock with his flame, but he was on a wooden boat, that wouldn't work out too well for him.

Kelta drowsily opened her eyes, the sun filling the cabin of her ship, and reminding her of what she needed to do this morning. She figured she hadn't gotten much sleep as the conflicting thoughts were still eating at her. On one hand she could turn the Night Fury over to Bludvist, and it could possibly mean her freedom, but how far could she trust him? He never gave her freedom before, why should she think this would be any different? But this was the best dragon she had caught so far, such a rare specimen, so powerful, so-so-she can't do it. She can't give this dragon up to Bludvist. That's it, Her mind has been made up. Now, what sort of excuse, or rather lie, could she give Bludvist? Well, the simple the lie the easier it is to believe. She missed! Yeah, she missed, her arrow went through the dragon's neck instead of its wing, and she accidentally killed it. Yeah, that's it, she killed the Night Fury! Woops, guess she should have been paying more attention. She actually had used that excuse before. She felt so badly about taking a Woolly Howl away from its babies, that she changed her mind before shooting it down. Of course it had been many, many, _many_ years since then, he might not believe her, she had proven herself a very skilled archer, it's the only reason he lets her do what she does. She can take down and bring back some of the best dragons, that most trappers couldn't even dream of bringing back. She's always been about quality, not quantity. Of course that's what lead her to capturing a Rumblehorn, Bludvist complained of always losing his human slaves, and wanted a skilled and powerful dragon to track them and kill them. Unfortunately she didn't realize that Bludvist would continue to track her. She couldn't run away, if she told Bludvist she killed this Night Fury he could very well send that Rumblehorn to take her life, but then again he knew she wasn't stupid enough to try to run, but could she bet her life on his trust? She glanced over to the sleeping Night Fury. Well, she had no nearly no odds of winning with this dragon, he might kill her too. She had treated him so badly that she knew he was very pissed off at her, and there really isn't anything she could do about it at this point. If he were any other dragon she could let him go and he would probably just fly away, but this Night Fury was different, she knew he held a grudge, and he was stubborn. Still, at this point letting this dragon go was all she felt she should do. She sighed, her mind made up, and pushed herself out of the cot.

Lallo woke up with a cry, having not slept very long either, but was still happy to see his friend awake and ready to give him food and attention. Kelta smiled at him and rubbed his head. "I need you to go back to Bludvist today, I'll write the letter whilst you have breakfast." She reached under the cot and brought out the last bit of fish leftover from last night. She was suddenly thankful the Night Fury snuffed the food, because she'd have nothing but hardtack to give her friend. She set the box down on the floor as the Terrible Terror gobbled up the crumbs, and began writing on a piece of parchment. Her Norse writing ability was always not that great, being a slave she didn't really have much opportunity to learn it better, and her old life, well, she didn't even speak Norse, but she managed. "Hopefully he'll understand this," she mumbled, rolling it up and attaching it to a small cylinder satchel the small dragon wore. She picked up Lallo and held him close, giving him a hug as she walked onto the open boat. "Go directly to Bludvist. Be safe, I love you, come back soon, okay?" She smiled at the little dragon a bit biter sweetly, knowing it was possible that she may never see him again. Lallo squawked in assurance and flew off.

The Night Fury opened its eyes, lifting his head and watching the interaction between Kelta and the Terrible Terror from the cabin. Maybe she wasn't as bad as he thought she was, she does seem to really care for that little dragon. Still, he couldn't quite bring himself to trust her, not yet anyway. He flinched as he saw her shadow move against the wooden floor, he closed his eyes as he didn't really feel like dealing with her, so he'd pretend to be asleep for a while.

Kelta gazed down at the restrained dragon; she slowly reached her hand towards the hook on the floor but was stopped by his growl. His eyes were closed but he could smell her closeness, she jumped and pulled back. She wasn't going to try to release his bonds while he was conscious, no of course not! She still needed to release him though, but she didn't want him to bite her, so she quickly rubbed her fingers against the side of his neck near his jaw, causing his whole body to go limp. "Okay," she breathed, moving closer to the unconscious dragon, "maybe I'll see your wing first," she knew her arrow had caused quite a bit of damage, probably tore a tendon or ligament, but she didn't think it hurt the bone. She pressed her fingers against the swollen redness of the wing, the dragon roared sleepily, but didn't move, so she continued to rub gently at it. It wasn't broken, thankfully, but she could tell the tendon was sliced. He could fly, but it would hurt quite a bit. Maybe he'll stay a while? She wondered to herself, but seriously doubted it, as she slowly removed the collar around his neck. Her stomach begun to rumble with hunger as she tossed the collar beside the dragon, she hadn't eaten much yesterday and it was starting to wear on her. She looked disappointingly at the box of empty dried fish, and then again at her barrel of hardtack. If she wanted fish, she figured she better go catch herself some. A long wooden stick with a tightly coiled cord wrapped around it lay propped against the corner; she grabbed it, along with some hard tack, and brought it into the open air. It was still freezing cold, she figured she ought to change to fur; the dragon skin she wore was a little thin, and didn't do much to battle the elements, it was just easier for her to move in. Placing a bit of hardtack on the hook, she shivered, embracing herself with her free arm, and cast the line into the ocean. Securing the rod against her ship with a weight, she walked back into the cabin where the sleeping dragon shuffled a bit. She looked down at him, pitying him for a moment, but realized he's free now, so she shouldn't worry about him anymore. When he wakes up he'll fly away, and she'll probably never see him again, assuming he didn't burn her to death, but then she'd be dead, and in that case nothing really mattered. She shrugged and knelt in front of her cot and dug out some fur clothing, she pulled the dragon skin shirt over her head leaving her skin bare to the elements.

The dragon groggily opened his eyes, he noticed the woman had come back into the ship, she stood knelt facing away from him, but he could see she was trying to change her clothes, but he was surprised when he saw her vulnerable flesh in front of him. Her back was scarred with several lashes, probably several years old, but scarred nonetheless. He grunted a concerning tone, which caused her to jump, and she quickly pulled the fur tunic over her head to hide her skin. He looked at her; he could feel her tenseness, and uneasiness. Her heart was beating quickly as if she was anxious. He shook his head and that's when he realized he was no longer bound. His eyes widened as she hung her head deeper and started to talk to him.

"I'm letting you go," she said finally, "Your wing isn't as badly damaged as I thought it was, it's going to be sore, but," she stopped mid sentence to rise to her feet, she turned to face the dragon, but kept her eye contact on the floor," but you can fly far enough to the nearest land." She walked onto the main part of the ship and pointed to the east, "land isn't much further from here, it might be a few more days until you are completely healed, but you will be fine."

The Dragon followed her carefully, looking around with a raised brow, still untrusting of her, worried that she might change her mind. He looked towards the east and squinted. He thought he could see a mountain in the distance. Raising his wings he winced, she was right, it hurt, but he figured he could still fly. He looked back at her, she was sitting on the side of the boat grasping a long stick, but she was trembling.

"I'm sorry for what I've done to you, I spent my entire life preparing to meet a dragon like you, and I've let my selfishness cloud my judgment, and probably any chance of earning your trust. I just ask you don't burn my ship down with me on it, I'll probably be killed for what I've done, and I'd like to spend the last little bit of my life not on fire." She sighed as she continued to try to fight back tears, "I know what it's like to not have your freedom, I understand how angry you must feel, to have been separated from your family. I was taken from my family and sold into slavery, I miss them constantly, and I know you are probably anxious to see yours again too. I've caught and captured over forty dragons over the last fifteen years, and I've let about thirty of them go, to keep their families together, and I'm letting you go," she was finally unable to hold back her tears, she glared at the dragon and shouted, "so go already!" She went back to her fishing, trying to ignore the dragon standing near her.

It was the Night Fury's turn to feel conflicted, he looked over at her with pity and compassion, but he shook his head, he couldn't trust her. He fluffed his wing again and it caused him a bit of pain and he winced. His wing did hurt so maybe he could stay here for a few more days, until it felt better? He glared at Kelta. Plenty of time to make her pay for what she did to him, although he wouldn't set her on fire, not yet anyway. He watched as she rubbed the tears off her face, and struggled to keep the fishing pole, as it tugged out of her grasp. She pulled on it and brought up a single red salmon, a small one. He glanced annoyed, thinking that was a really ineffective way to catch fish. He looked over the edge of the ship, jumped up onto the railing where Kelta sat, and leapt into the ocean.

Kelta watched sadly as the Night Fury swam into the deep part of the ocean. "Good bye spirit guide," she cried, "I didn't know you could swim."


	4. Chapter 4 - Peace Offering

Chapter 4 – Peace offering from the dragon

Kelta's stomach was a little too knotted for her to want to eat her freshly caught salmon. She knew the Night Fury would leave, but she didn't realize how anxious it would make her. That dragon had every intention of leaving, she thought to herself. Nothing she could have said or done would have changed his mind, and she should stop trying to replay the whole scenario in her head hoping for a different way for it to have gone. She made the decision to shoot it down for her own selfish gain, of course she had also made the decision to let it go despite the risk of losing her own life, but her decision was made, and she'd have to live with it. Maybe life would bring the two of them together again? Maybe it wouldn't, but she would still have to continue as life _must_ go on. She looked down at her fish; she had started gutting it, but hadn't gotten to filleting it yet. She still wasn't all that hungry; she gazed distractedly at the gentle waves as they rustled closer to her boat. Her eyes narrowed, gazing at a dark shadowy figure enrobed by the watery waves, she watched as it grew larger as it moved closer to her. She tossed her fish off the boat as if to try to distract the figure by the smell from the cut up flesh, and quickly darted into the cabin of her boat to grab her bow. She came back out, the figure still looming closer, and she drew an arrow. This wasn't her first time being hunted by a sea dragon, and she knew it wouldn't be her last. The dead dragon scents that radiated off some of her clothes and her bow always angered the wild dragons, and it wasn't uncommon for her to be attacked. She narrowed her gaze and pressed her back against the cabin of her boat, her arrow aimed, and her arm outstretched ready to fire.

Her boat tipped suddenly and she was able to make out the figure that had been stalking her, it was the Night Fury! He had returned! She still had her arrow pulled back, but she gave it a little slack, surprised. The Dragon scrambled a bit as he thrust himself up over the edge of the boat, and flopped onto the floor of the boat a bit clumsily. He looked at her with a quizzical gaze, staring at her outstretched bow, and finally growled as if to tell her to drop the weapon. Kelta nodded and withdrew her arrow, tossing it and her bow into the cabin of the boat. She moved closer to the dragon, her hand outstretched with her palm facing the ground and her fingers slightly curled as if gesturing for him to smell her to see she meant him no harm. He stopped growling, but still stared at her with an angry gaze. "You came back…?" She said after a while in an astonished and breathless tone. She noticed the dragon was reacting badly to her outstretched arm so she quickly curled it against her stomach, and finally sat down with her legs crossed. "Why?"

The dragon shrugged, he tilted his head towards the ocean, and then motioned towards her fishing rod, as if trying to tell her something. Kelta cocked her head to the side, a perplexed look on her face.

"What are you," she begun, one of her eyes squinted in a confused glare.

Finally with a roll of his eyes he begun regurgitation and spit out about half a dozen salmon. He made a burbling noise, and pushed one towards her with his foot. It was significantly larger than the salmon she had caught.

"You—You caught these for me?" She stammered, motioning towards the fish. That was weird; no dragon had ever done _that_ for her. Sure she had seen mother dragons regurgitate food for their babies, but in all her experiences she had never had a dragon offer her food before.

She looked up at the dragon again, "did you do this, to feed me?"

The dragon shrugged again, she grinned a bit, "Or did you do it to show me how badly I am at fishing?"

The dragon choked a bit as if he were laughing. He pushed his nose at the fish again, pushing it even closer.

Kelta looked at the fish uneasily, "Okay, I thank you, but I don't know if I want to eat something that came out of your stomach!" She said in a joking tone, but the dragon didn't think it was funny, he growled at her as if insulted.

She knew she didn't have much choice as he would probably bite her or spit some fire at her out of spite if she didn't eat his fish. She wasn't going to shoot this dragon again, and she didn't really have any other ways to subdue him without getting close to him, so she really didn't have the upper hand in this.

"Okay!" She exclaimed, finally, and picked up the saliva glazed salmon. She looked at it with a bit of an off-put glance, and glanced back at the dragon to see if he was really serious about wanting her to eat it. When he nodded his head, she shrugged and picked up her curved filet knife that was conveniently still in arms reach. If she could cut into the fish just right she could get to the flesh without getting too much of the saliva. She carved out a small nugget of raw salmon and skewered it with her knife, with her eyes closed she popped it into her mouth and chewed and swallowed it. She grimaced; she never understood why anyone would eat something raw. She looked over at the dragon who was watching her with an amused stare.

She had an idea, "Hey, this would be much better cooked! Do you think you could help me start a fire?" She looked up at the Dragon who looked at her with an odd look before finally shrugging and nodding his head as if he understood. She rose to her feet carefully, trying not to intimidate or antagonize the dragon and walked back into the cabin and found a small cast iron footed stove under her cot. It had a small grate on it and it was full of black charred wood. She grabbed from a pile of sticks, failed arrows actually, and snapped them into pieces and placed them into the pot. She brought the pot into the open part of the ship and placed it down near the dragon.

"Can you light this?" she motioned towards the pile of broken sticks sitting inside the cast iron pot.

The dragon nodded and spit out a stream of blue flame which caught the sticks on fire almost instantly. Looking pleased with himself he knelt down and looked at the saliva coated fish and slurped them back up. He figured the one fish was plenty for her as it was a rather large one after all. He watched her with a quizzical gaze as she started to peel the skin and bones off the salmon before placing it on the hot grill with a nice sizzling sound. He sniffed the air hungrily, it smelled quite enticing, he had never thought of burning his food like that before, he would have to try it sometime. He continued to watch the girl as he curled up. Something was enticing about her too. He had this odd feeling he knew her, although that was impossible, he had never known a human before, not personally anyway. Yet, something about her was intriguing; she made him feel warm in a way, but it was weird too. He didn't find he cared for the companionship of his own kind, dragons, why would he feel that way about a human? Especially one that tried to kill him, or capture him, or whatever it was she was trying to do. He looked at her again with a glare, what exactly was she trying to do, and did it matter? She had offered him freedom and he stubbornly refused, he used his wing as an excuse. Sure it hurt, but it didn't hurt so badly that he couldn't fly away, at least far enough away from her. No, something was itching at him to stay with her, something he couldn't quite put his claw on. Yes, something was drawing him to her. It's not like he had anything better to do. He shrugged and finally closed his eyes, curling his tail around him. He'd stay for a while at least, besides he wasn't done pushing her down a peg or two. The attempt to humiliate her by showing her how badly she was at catching fish hadn't had quite the effect he intended.

The sweet meaty smell of cooked salmon caused his eyes to quickly shoot open, he picked up his tail and there was Kelta with a filet of salmon in her hand brushing it close to his nose. "Here, I want to share it with you, as thanks."

The Night Fury looked at the fish with a hungry gaze, it smelled so much better than the fish he had caught previously, he opened his mouth showing his toothless gums as if wanting to take it but quickly thought otherwise. He wasn't quite ready to accept her peace offering, that would make them equals, and he just didn't like the idea of that, not yet. He de-retracted his teeth his teeth and snapped at her before swishing his tail and whacking it against her stomach, causing her to fall on her butt.

"Hey! You don't have to do that!" She glared at the dragon who was giving her a satisfied smirk, she backed down, she didn't want to antagonize the dragon, she wanted him to stay, not leave. She was just as stubborn about control as he was, so she felt a little embarrassed to be pushed away, but she tried not to show it. Swallowing her pride she tried to change the subject, "I-I didn't know dragons could have retractable teeth? Is it because of how hot your fire is?"

The Night Fury just rolled his eyes, expecting a different reaction from her; he just got up from the floor and wandered slowly into the cabin of the ship.

"Wait, where are you going?" she laughed a bit, she was happy the dragon still didn't want to fly away, but she was immediately irritated once she saw where the dragon wanted to sleep. He crawled up onto her cot and curled up. "Hey! No! No no no! No Night Fury's on my bed!" She abandoned her desire to stay on good terms with the dragon, her pride overwhelming her. She shooed at him with her arms, but the dragon just scoffed at her, snorting though his nose and twisting his body so he faced away from her. She pushed on his body with her arms, when that didn't have any affect she grabbed onto his tail and yanked it.

The Night Fury, irritated by this woman yanking on his tail, lifted up his head and looked at her with an amused glare. He was silently enjoying this, he smirked at her and blew a small ball of flame at her tunic, not enough to hurt her, but enough to start a fire and singe the fur.

"Hey!" She let go of his tail, which he promptly gathered back up and wrapped around him, as she batted at the small orange flame as it tried to eat up her fur tunic. "Asshole dragon," she mumbled, almost in an amused tone, she was enjoying their little scuffle as well. "Fine, have it your way," she started to climb on top of the black dragon, he felt quite warm, she felt satisfied to use him as a bed as she curled herself up on top of him.

The Night Fury didn't like that, he growled and swatted at her with his tail.

She winced as the Night Fury's tail whacked her in the face and again in the side, "Hey! Cut that out!" She latched onto his tail, wrapping her arms and legs around it, and readjusting her weight to make it hard for him to easily slap it in the air.

He countered by giving his tail once last harsh flick, flipping her off and slamming her into the wall across the cabin, which really wasn't all that far at all. He peeked at her as if to make sure he only broke her spirit, not her bones.

She shook her head and sighed, feeling defeated, finally she crawled back up to the dragon, eying her blanket as it lay beneath the dragon, "at least let me have my blanket! It's so cold today," she whined as she tugged at the colorful woven blanket the dragon lazily laid upon.

Feeling he still had the upper hand, he gave her a little slack and shifted himself a bit so she could tug at the blanket. She managed to pull it loose and draped it around herself; she pushed herself up against the dragon, who didn't seem to mind her pressing her warm body against his back. She closed her eyes, feeling quite tired even though she usually didn't go to sleep until several hours later. Of course she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before what with all the conflicting thoughts, but she felt like she could take a comforting nap. Still, she shivered as the arctic air seeped into the cabin; she pulled the blanket closer to herself, trying to embrace herself with warmth.

The Night Fury felt her shiver against him and decided to show pity on her as he wrapped his tail around her, pulling her just a bit closer so she could share his natural warmth. He felt a little strange about dropping some of his pride to allow her some warmth, but at the same time he felt comforted by her. He shrugged; maybe he was just tired, as he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before either.


	5. Chapter 5-Fire

Chapter 5 - Fire

The stout stench of burning wood woke the dragon up gently at first, but once he realized the flames around him he quickly jumped up off the cot and out of the burning shed. The boat was on fire! But how?! He looked around for any sign of a culprit and heard a familiar dragon cry in the distance, growling he narrowed his eyes into the sky searching for any sign of the dragon, but couldn't see anything. Frustrated he looked around the ship surveying the damage, realizing it was too late to do anything short of escape. The bed of the ship was completely encased in flames, along with the housing portion he had been previously sleeping in, was also completely engulfed in flames. He shook his head, outstretched his wing, and felt a sharp piercing pain in the joint that caused him to cry out in surprise. Suddenly he remembered, he was shot down the other day by a strange woman clothed in dragon's skin. She had intended to turn him over as some sort of prize. He snorted an amused breath, feeling how ironic that she should die on her own boat as it burned, never being able to turn him over after all. Wait a minute, how did he get free again? He remembered being shackled to the boat, but he also remembered her changing her mind and releasing his bonds, setting him free. He didn't leave. That's right, something about her drew him to her, he didn't feel it was right to leave, not yet anyways. He looked back at the fire encased cabin, it was starting to break apart, and she was still in there.

Kelta woke up in a fit of coughing as the dense smoke filled her lungs, her eyes opened widely as she watched in horror as all her belongings were eaten by the flames. "No!" She rose to her feet quickly and started beating at the flames on the wall with her blanket. What happened? How could her home be on fire? She looked around quickly wondering how all of this could have happened. The Dragon she caught! What a fool, to burn down a boat while shackled to it with no possibility of escape! She looked over at where the dragon should have been and only saw flames eating at an empty corner. No, she let him go, she didn't think he was quite that foolish, to burn down his own prison. Still she suspected it was him anyway, she might have been the fool to believe he wouldn't set her on fire for what she had done to him. She shook her head, she didn't have time to try to decide what happened, she needed to start figuring out what to do now. She looked out towards the ocean, it would be far too cold to swim, and she would likely die anyways by freezing to death. Well she was going to die on this ship if she waited too long. She wiped her forehead which was starting to form beads of sweat from the intense heat. She looked around again, trying to get her bearings in the flaming room; she wanted to grab a few things before she lost them to the fire. Her dream catcher, her bow, her-well nothing else really mattered to her. Honestly the bow didn't matter, she had to get her dream catcher, it was the only thing she had left from her old life. She squinted looking through the flames and saw that they hadn't yet touched her precious webbed hoop. She begun to move closer to it, the flames attacking her furred clothing, but soon found she was being pulled back. She looked around and saw the Night Fury had his mouth around the tail of her tunic. She felt a wave of anger and thinking irrationally, she punched him in the nose hard, causing him to let go of her shirt.

The Night Fury jumped back, dazed a bit from the sudden physical outburst, he snarled at her and released an angry roar. What was wrong with this woman? He was trying to help her.

"You! You asshole dragon! You burned down my ship! You took everything from me! Why would you do that?!" She shouted as loudly as she could but her shouts were muffled by her choking from sucking up the dense smoke. She put her sleeve in front of her mouth to act as a sort of filter, that's when she realized. He wouldn't be here if he had tried to kill her by burning down her ship. She looked into the dragons eyes and could see that he was actually trying to help her. "You didn't set my boat on fire, did you?" she said calmly.

The dragon growled at her, before finally nodding slowly. He pushed towards her again and grabbed the front of her shirt this time with his teeth, attempting to pull her out of the burning hut.

"But if you didn't burn down my ship, then what did… oh no." She had forgotten to put out the flame from the cooking she did last night. Oh how could she be so careless? Still she didn't have time to worry about that either, she only had one thing that concerned her, getting her dream catcher. She tugged on her tunic trying to rip it out of the dragons mouth, but he had clenched down, and was snarling at her trying to pull her towards him. He was trying to save her! But she couldn't leave without her dream catcher, so she punched his nose again, this caused him to growl louder but he didn't let go and continued tugging. Finally she pulled the dagger from its sheath as it was conveniently attached to the front of her shirt and thrust it into the snag of the clothing, tearing it in two, causing her to fly backwards and falling on her butt. She turned around and begun to climb through the flames to get at her relic hanging on the wall. The flames began eating at her clothes.

The dragon just sort of stood there for a moment in a state of bewilderment. What the hell was she doing? Did she loose her mind? He was honestly just trying to help her, and it looked like she was trying to set herself on fire. Or did she think she could escape by climbing up the wall? He finally had enough and moving closer to her, he finally grabbed her arm with his mouth, being careful not to bite down on her, instead clenching his toothless gums against her as hard as he could, and tossed her away from the wall, causing some of the flames to be put out.

Kelta didn't let this stop her, she pushed the dragon away again, and attempted to move closer to the wall, but this time she was stopped. She screamed in agony as the dragon clenched down on her arm, biting through her flesh and snapping a small bone, he ripped her off her feet and dragged her out of the hut. She cried as her warm blood seeped up her arm into her shirt, and she was dragged on her back, with her arm firmly clenched in the dragon's mouth. He had bit her, and not gently either; he had tore deeply into her arm and possibly broke it. Still she realized he was only trying to help her, and as her lungs were filled with clean air, she begun to understand this more clearly, but she felt an immense sense of loss as she watched as the flames ate at the cabin part of the ship and it caved in, eating the last little bits of her life she physically had left. She lost her family, she lost her way of life, she lost her language, she even lost her name, but she always had a physical reminder of where she came from. Today she lost the last relic of her past. She begun to cry fiercely, not just for the pain in her arm, but for the pain in her heart, knowing she had lost the last thing in her life that mattered to her.

The dragon, hearing her cries, quickly let go of her arm, the tinny blood filling his taste buds, he spit it out. He knew he had bit her hard, but didn't realize he bit her enough to make her cry so loudly, but he figured it was better than burning alive. He looked around at the boat, flexed his wing, and winced. It still hurt, but he hoped he could fly through the pain and get them off this burning ship. He moved closer to her, by this point she had curled herself up in a ball of tears, holding her arm close to her body as if trying to delay the blood loss. The fire on her clothes seemed to have died out from all the dragging and pushing. He grabbed her with his arms and held her close to his chest as he stretched out his wings, wincing once more from achy pains, but realized that he could indeed fly, and launched himself into the air to fly away from the burning boat.

That's when Kelta started to scream again causing the dragon to drop his concentration and almost drop her into the ocean, she begun to whack his arms with her unhurt hand, which wasn't helping. "Let me go! Let me down! Put me down!" She cried through screams of terror. Although it was very dark, she knew she was high up in the air and her overwhelming fear of heights overtook her, causing her to act very rashly, and wriggled through the dragon's tight embrace. She had to get down, she just had to, her panic was overpowering her sense of judgment, and she just had to get back to the ground.

He tried his best to ignore her screams, and flew up higher and faster, gliding towards what looked like land in the distance. He could feel her heart beating very quickly, and she squirmed as if trying to get herself loose, but he held on tightly, too stubborn to just let her fall into the ocean, he had come this far to save her, he wasn't going to just drop her now.

Feeling like she was out of options she finally folded herself up in such a way to be able to bite the dragon's scaled arm. She knew her teeth weren't as sharp as his and probably wouldn't do much short of irritating him, but she had to try. She was so desperate to get them out of the sky that she would let herself drown before flying any further.

The Night Fury howled in pain as she bit him, sure it wasn't nearly as hard as he had bit her, or even as hard as another dragon had bit him in the past, but it was still enough for him to finally loose his patience. He thought about dropping her, but he was too stubborn for that for he had made his decision: he would bring her to land; of course he didn't have to make it easy for her. He grabbed her closer with one arm and used his other arm to deliver a very hard very quick thump to the head, which thankfully, caused her to go limp, which indicated he had successfully knocked her unconscious. He let out a sigh of relief and was able to finish flying uninterrupted towards the landmass. He recognized it as he loomed closer; it was the same place he had raided just a few nights before! There was a human settlement there that he figured could probably take care of her, he knew the wound he made in her arm would require some time healing, and he didn't know if he felt like watching over her. He could drop her off in the middle of the town at night while everyone was sleeping, and he could get out easily. The dragons had raided this village only a few nights prior so he knew they wouldn't be back for some time, so she would be safe. Not that he cared, of course. Or did he? He snorted, irritated at himself for feeling compassion for this human.

He cared, if he didn't he wouldn't have bothered with saving her _at all._ So why did he care? He didn't have a whole lot of time to figure that out, he was almost to the village. Luckily the village was deserted, everyone ought to have been sleeping, the few dim lights shining from the huts confirmed this, and the town was devoid of people. He flew up to a hut that was on the side of a cliff, and laid Kelta down in front of it. He knew a little bit about some of the people of this village, having come down here on occasion after raids. He always felt a twinge of regret when he hurt people, and wanted to see if they could continue on with life, the ones that weren't burned to death, or decapitated of course. He remembered watching them being brought up to this hut on stretchers to be healed by an old woman.

He looked down at Kelta, as if wanting to see her for the last time before he flew back to his volcanic home. He remembered the old woman had very fair skin, and light hair. In fact, most of the people of this village had fair skin and light hair, some brown hair. Kelta was completely different; she had very dark black hair, and bronzed dark skin. He wondered if she was an outcast, like he was. She looked so much different from all the other humans he had seen. He felt a bit of connection with her suddenly, HE was different too. He didn't look, or act, like the other dragons; he was a bit of an outcast. Sure he participated on the raids, but only because he had a desire to assimilate himself. He didn't have a family exactly, and he couldn't help but feel like she didn't either. She looked like an outcast, he WAS an outcast, and maybe they weren't so different? Maybe she pushed herself to be something she wasn't in order to fit in? Maybe she only hunted dragons because she felt like she wanted to fit in somewhere. Just like him. He made up his mind; he wasn't going to leave her. He whacked his head against the door of the hut a few times, before quickly jumping up onto the roof to hide himself as the old woman sleepily shuffled through the hut and finally opened the door.

The old Viking woman, Gothi, rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes as she slowly opened the door to find the young woman laying on the ground unconscious in front of her door with an arm soaked in blood. She gasped and ran back inside to alert a young woman that was staying with her, possibly an apprentice, and they gently moved Kelta into the hut. The Night Fury decided it would be best if he left for a while, he didn't want to be seen in the village it would cause too much trouble right now. He leapt off the hut and soared into the woods. He would stay here for a little while until Kelta was mended. She seemed to want to befriend him yesterday, so he decided he would give it a shot.


	6. Chapter 6-The Healer

Kelta woke up to a piercing pain in her arm, and a dull pain in her head. She had been laid upon a rather soft, large, yet unfamiliar bed. She lifted her arm and saw it was wrapped in some sort of white cloth, it burned and throbbed, but she didn't see any blood seeping through. Her mind was a bit of a fog, she looked around the room slowly, trying to gather in the sights and get an idea of where she was. The architecture was clearly Viking, with ornate wood carvings adorning the walls, along with fur. She also didn't feel the familiar calming waves gently swaying her room, but she also didn't feel the unwelcome cold air that usually seeped in either. She looked around and noticed that she obviously wasn't in her boat anymore. She tried for a moment to remember what had happened, why she was in this unfamiliar room, and why she no longer was on the boat. She sat up and felt her head throb, she put her other un-bandaged hand up against her head, and could smell the lingering burned smell that emitted from her hair. Now she remembered: her boat had caught on fire. She looked down at her bandaged arm and immediately remembered the dragon that had bit her in an attempt to save her life. She had nearly risked her life to save her dream catcher, she failed, but he hadn't failed in saving her. She started to remember him picking her up off the flaming boat, and flying away. She felt a sudden rush of fear as she remembered the feeling of being so high up off the ground. She looked around again trying to fill her thoughts with something that would make her less anxious, in an attempt to forget about what she feared most. She realizing she must have been dropped off by the dragon in this village. She looked through the window across the room and recognized the hills and cliffs with tiny cottages sitting upon them. She was back in Berk! The sun was shining and lit up each of the little homes, most of them had Viking village people repairing roofs or walls. It had only been a few nights since the last raid, so they were inevitably repairing the damage the dragons had done.

What happened to the Night Fury? She quickly jumped out of bed, intending to bolt out the door, but was stopped by an older woman who shoved her back into bed with her staff. She recognized this older woman as Gothi, the village healer. She had visited her on a few occasions after raids, but not to get help for herself, but to deliver Vikings that had become injured as a result of the dragons. "How did I end up here?" She asked the older woman, but quickly realized the woman doesn't talk. "I mean, uh," she looked around and saw another woman, possibly an apprentice, "can your apprentice tell me anything?"

Gothi looked over at the other woman who appeared to be washing some of Kelta's clothes, Kelta looked down and realized she wasn't wearing her fur tunic, or anything at all for that matter, and she gathered up the blankets and wrapped them around herself. "Can I have my clothes back?" Kelta asked with a dry cold tone.

"You have a lot of nerve demanding so much for being a slave," the apprentice lady commented without turning around.

Kelta felt her heart skip a beat, she realized that without her shirt they could certainly see the scars on her body, especially the one on above her chest near her shoulder that was an intricate design that had been burned into her flesh by branding. "I'm-" she stammered, not really sure how to work her way out of this one.

"Luckily for you, I remember when you brought my husband back after a recent raid, you saved his life by bringing him up to Gothi so quickly, so I guess that means I'm in your debt. I've asked Gothi not to tell anyone either, but I am going to consider my debt to you repaid, but seeing as you don't have any money, we will be keeping this fur as payment for applying treatment to your arm."

Kelta frowned. Really? She didn't think that fur was all that expensive, but she had cleaned and stitched it herself, so what could she have known? She would have to remind herself that fur had a good bit of value, but what was she going to do about clothes now? Her question was quickly answered when the woman threw down a thick wool dress with a simple pattern.

"You had better put on your boots before we change our mind about them."

Kelta quickly threw the dress over her head and slipped her boots back on. She felt her foot rub against something cold and metallic and remembered she still had a dagger tucked in there. Well at least she wouldn't be completely vulnerable. Still she preferred a bow. She looked down at her bandaged arm as her heart sunk into her stomach. The dragon had bit her arm right at the crease of her elbow. She would be completely unable to aim a bow with her arm the way it was bandaged.

"Thank you for everything," she said swallowing her pride. It wouldn't do her any good to be boastful in her condition, "still, can you tell me what happened? I can't seem to remember why I'm here at all," Kelta asked, motioning towards the apprentice.

"We found you in a pool of your own blood laying in front of our cottage. Those are dragon's teeth marks, they must have been out of shots, or else they wouldn't have wasted time biting you. Still it makes me wonder how you were able to avoid it's flame but not it's teeth?" The apprentice lady looked at Kelta with a quizzical gaze.

"I don't-remember." Kelta lied, trying to avoid eye contact.

"What we would like to know is what kind of dragon made those teeth marks? It's a pattern we don't recognize."

"I told you I don't remember!" Kelta shouted, not ready to give up her tale, knowing full well this village wouldn't understand her interactions with the dragon. Honestly Kelta didn't really understand the dragon's motives either.

The apprentice looked at Kelta for a minute before finally giving up. "You have an interesting life, slave, or should I say, Dragon Huntress? How long will you be in Berk? We could use your talents in the next raid. Hopefully your arm will be healed by then."

Kelta thought for a second, dragons usually waited several nights before raiding a village again, usually just enough time for the village to build up another supply of food for them to steal. "Uh, no, not long enough for the next raid, I need to report back to my ma-" she stopped. She didn't like refereeing to anyone as her 'master' but this woman already knew she was a slave, so it didn't matter. "Anyway, I need to be back on the other side of the territory in about three days. Do you know if any fishing boats are leaving today?"

"I don't have that information. You will need to talk to the chief," the apprentice responded coldly.

Kelta sighed, she usually couldn't get in to talk to the chief as he was usually busy dealing with matters involving the village, not matters involving travelers. She nodded and bid a farewell to Gothi and the apprentice and walked out of the healer's cottage. She looked out towards the peninsula and gazed into the forest. Her eyes narrowed and she thought for a moment she caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure, possibly the dragon, but she quickly shrugged it off as her own imagination getting the best of her. Surely he wouldn't have stayed with her as he had no reason to. She looked down into the village and felt her stomach growl in hunger, as the sweet meaty smell of roast eel teased her nose, but she tried to ignore it as she walked down the path and past the homes. She didn't have any money, she had no way of making money, and she was sure no one would give her anything for free. She decided she would go into the forest and try to catch a rabbit or a fish or something. She had spent quite a bit of time in this forest while she was tracking the Night Fury, maybe she could find some arrows ,or even one of her practice bows that she hadn't burned for warmth. Maybe she could catch a deer, and then she could sell the pelt and hopefully make enough money to get her off this island. Maybe she would actually figure out how to shoot a bow with one arm? She laughed at herself and looked into the sky one last time before she reached the forest and wondered if Lallo, her Terrible Terror, would be able to find her here. She knew full well the tracking dragon Drago Bloodvist used could find her. She shuttered at the thought, she wasn't ready for her fight with that dragon. She might have been able to defend herself before, when both her arms were perfectly useable, but not now. Still, it could be an inevitable outcome of everything that had happened. Since her ship had burned down she had no way of getting back to his outpost. Therefore he would ultimately believe that she had tried to escape, he would send the tracking dragon after her, and would likely end up killing her.

The bump on her head was beginning to bother her and she rubbed it, starting to remember some of the situations from the night before. She continued to walk through the forest with her bandaged arm held close to her body and her other arm rubbing her sore head and running her fingers through her long black hair. She was beginning to remember the altercation with the Night Fury involving her biting him and him retaliating by smacking her on her head, and then what? Nothing. She remembered waking up in the healer's hut in Berk. He must have knocked her unconscious. Being knocked unconscious wasn't much of a new experience for her, sadly. As a slave she was beat up by her handlers quite often, her stubbornness rarely waned except to preserve her life, and she always felt she should have been held to a higher standard over not only the other slaves, but also a good deal of the other dragon hunters due to her skills, but she was pushed back down into her place. She continued walking through the forest until she found a Cliffside that overlooked a cove with a small river emptying itself into a clear cool body of water. She had spent several nights here. She sat down on the rock face and folded her legs and just watched the water, her head starting to throb along with her arm. She knew she wasn't a true Dragon Hunter. Sure she had the head of one, but she had the heart of something else. A dragon's friend possibly? Her stubbornness wasn't the only thing that allowed her to train her Terrible Terror, kindness played a huge factor in that. No dragons weren't just her friend; they were a part of her life, a part of her life she tried so dearly to bury. She didn't remember everything about her past life before being dragged from her home land and brought to this frigid country, but she definitely remembered there were dragons. She remembered small and large black dragons with fins instead of horns and four legs and a nasty way of creating nearly uncontrollable fires with their powerful beams of flame. She remembered Night Furys!

She continued to rub her head, apparently the swift thump had brought out a bit of buried memory that she was beginning to rekindle. She hadn't realized that the dragon in her visions had been a Night Fury, she certainly didn't realize her past was full of them either. She tried to remember what her people used to call them, but she couldn't seem to figure out the pronunciation. Wacho-Wachi? Wagonago? Wachinago? She did remember one thing, she had lived together with them in peace. They hunted _together_ not each other. They lived together, they slept together, they were brothers and sisters. These dragons were their allies. She quickly jumped up and looked into the sky hoping to see another glimpse of the Night Fury. What did her people used to call them? She closed her eyes one last time and tried her best to recall the correct pronunciation. She opened her eyes quickly as she remembered, it was Wakiwanagi!

"WAKIWANAGI," Kelta shouted loudly hoping it would reach the ears of the dragon, not knowing if he would understand it or not. She smiled when she saw the needles of the pine trees rustle and finally a dragon's head pop out from the thick brush. The Night Fury narrowed his eyes and glared at her with a glance of mixed with uncertainness and a bit of curiosity. "Do you know what that means? Wakiwanagi? You do, don't you?" Kelta said gently hoping not to scare the dragon away with sudden movements. She wasn't sure how she had forgotten these important details about her life, but she didn't want to lose them again.

The Night Fury knew this name, he had been called it so many years ago, but his memory was a bit foggy. He didn't remember why he knew that name, or why he remembered people that looked like Kelta running around barefoot in the forest. Or even why he recognized that weird hoop from her boat she almost died to save. He stopped caring about his life before he came to this land inhabited by people who _didn't_ look like Kelta, but she was slowly pulling him back to it. He finally nodded his head, yes, he understood Wakiwanagi.

(Wakiwanagi is a made up word using Lakota words meaning thunder and spirit and fused together and resulting in gibberish.)

(Also if you haven't figured it out yet Kelta is Native American from the Americas. This story is stemmed from the belief that the Vikings interacted with the Native American's so long ago. Why is she in this part of the world? Well you'll just have to continue reading to find out.)


End file.
